Through the majority of the 2013-’14 season, the Boston Celtics played close games only to wither at the end due to a lack of talent. This week, the Celtics showed two different traits in home losses to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night and the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

The Pacers and Warriors are among the NBA’s elite teams so nobody expected the Celtics to win these games. On Saturday, the Celtics gave their fans something to cheer about when they took a 78-76 lead into the fourth quarter. In the 108-88 defeat to the Warriors, the only applause from the fans came when a man who resembled deceased rapper, Tupac Shakur, was shown on the Jumbotron. Later in the fourth quarter, there was a chant for former Celtic and current Warriors assistant coach, Brian Scalabrine.

During the 102-97 loss to the Pacers, the Celtics placed six players in double figures in points. Kris Humphries brought the crowd to their feet late in the third quarter with some hustle plays. Meanwhile, the Warriors scored 58 points in the paint, the Celtics committed 22 turnovers, and they never showed any fight.

With 21 games left in the season, the Celtics are not going to make a surprising run into the playoffs. Fans understand this team is not good enough to make a run and they would not rather the organization be stuck in mediocrity. This is a transition season, but these players must compete for their next contracts. These players must display their talents within the framework of the team to showcase themselves to the Celtics as well as the other franchises in the league. There cannot be any more nights like Wednesday when the team showed a lack of interest and effort.

These next six weeks are basically like tryouts for the players on the Celtics. The players will decide whether they want to be professionals in a trying situation or they can play out the string in embarrassing fashion like they did not Wednesday night.

This is a nice story with the Celtics able to grant this 12-year-old his “wish list” of viewing a Celtics game at TD Garden. Louis Corbett has a rare eye disease that will cause him to become blind. Corbett (who hails from New Zealand) was able to meet the team in the locker room before the Celtics played against the Warriors, including captain Rajon Rondo. The team honored Corbett at halfcourt during a break in the game. After PA announcer, Eddie Palladino, told the story of Corbett, the boy received a standing ovation from the crowd. According to Jay King of Masslive.com, the credit goes to Red’s Army bloggers Jay Oullette and John Karalis for bringing Corbett’s story to Corrine Grousbeck, who is the wife of a Celtics co-owner. Unfortunately, the Celtics did not play well in front of Corbett.

Celtics forward Jared Sullinger celebrated his 22nd birthday on Tuesday. Sullinger overcame back surgery last year and an arrest for assault charge against his then-girlfriend, Deann Smith, in September. The second-year player is showing promise as an undersized forward with his ability to rebound, especially on the offensive end. Sullinger played in the Rookie-Sophomore game during All-Star Weekend on February 14th. The 6-foot-9-inch forward is averaging 13.1 points per game and 8.2 rebounds. Since the Celtics are in the midst of a five-game home-stand and did not have a game on Tuesday, Sullinger was able to celebrate his birthday without any repercussions for missing a team flight.